Union warns plans to cut jobs at Suffolk and Essex hospitals will make 'caring for patients harder'
Plans to slash roles at Ipswich, Colchester and West Suffolk Hospitals have sparked anger from Unison
Union bosses say plans to cut 468 jobs at three hospitals in Suffolk and Essex “is the opposite of what the NHS needs”.
Plans to slash roles at Ipswich, Colchester and West Suffolk Hospitals have sparked anger from Unison, which says the cuts “will make it harder for staff to care for patients properly.”
Unison Eastern head of health Caroline Hennessy said: “NHS workers are already going flat out to care for patients, reduce waiting lists and meet government targets.
"They’re overworked and overstretched as it is. The health service needs real investment, not more belt-tightening.”
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which operates Colchester Hospital and Ipswich Hospital, has not publicly commented on the cuts but said it had employed 12,932 staff members this year.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Over, executive director of workforce and communications at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, which runs West Suffolk Hospital, said: “The trust has worked closely with the integrated care board to develop a financial plan to balance the books for the health care system.
"It outlines the scale of savings needed to become sustainable – both in the coming year and more long term – while still providing high quality care for our patients.
“Together, we’re taking difficult but necessary decisions to manage our budgets and deliver a level of productivity that matches our resources.
"Reducing the number of temporary and permanent staff we employ is one of the ways we’ll achieve this, but every part of the trust is contributing to making us fit for the future.”
According to stats from the East Suffolk and North Essex Trust, the establishment change of 449 whole-time equivalent staff members, as reported in the ICB Board meeting, represented a number of changes within staffing numbers, which ESNEFT is anticipating in the financial year 2025/26.
Notably, 393 staff roles will be transferred from the trust to its external partner, Sodexo.
Other smaller changes in staffing include increases in apprenticeships, the offer of substantive employment opportunities for students currently training at the hospital trust, and recognition of known vacancies in harder-to-recruit roles, the trust added.
As a result of these changes, the trust will have a net decrease of 229 staff in post.
In mid-March, a meeting was held to discuss how the jobs would go at both trusts.